NME Festival blog: Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl opens up about suffering from depression after end of last tour

September 15, 2017

Frontman discusses going through a ‘really weird depressive phase’ in new interview

Dave Grohl has revealed that he went through a “really weird depressive phase” after the end of Foo Fighters‘ last tour in 2015.

The US band released their ninth album ‘Concrete & Gold’ today (September 15). Read the NME review.

Speaking in the latest issue of Kerrang!, Grohl opened up about suffering a “depressive phase” after his band finished what they dub as the ‘Broken Leg Tour’ in November 2015.

The singer had suffered a leg break during a show in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2015 and were forced to cancel their headlining slot at Glastonbury Festival that summer as a result. However, with use of a throne seat, the band continued to tour through to November.

“When we came home from that last trip, everybody was really exhausted,” Grohl explained to Kerrang!. “And I was still trying to walk. I was still on crutches, and just trying to get my body back in shape, and I was so drained from touring. Usually, at the end of a couple of years of being on the road, you blame the music and the band for all of your problems, so you want to get away from it. And I didn’t want to pick up a guitar. I wasn’t feeling creative, or prolific, or inspired. So I just went back to normal, quiet domestic life.”

“After we finished all of that touring, I went through a really weird depressive phase where I got the beard and I had the pyjamas and I didn’t leave the house for weeks,” Grohl went on to reveal. “That was at the point that I realised the music wasn’t the thing that was making my life worse – it was actually the thing that always made my life better.”

Grohl also discussed how he eventually got back into making music, saying: “Once you wake that back up, it’s like the dam bursts and you start getting more and more ideas.”

“He and his family basically set up my entire surgery in London after I broke my leg. It still blows my mind,” Grohl remembered. “I wouldn’t be playing music if it wasn’t for Paul McCartney because I learned how to play guitar with Beatles songbooks and playing along to Beatles records. But I also would not be walking right now if it was not for Paul McCartney. He knows some good fucking doctors.”

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